


A "Trouble First" from Cambridge

by missdibley



Series: The Red Nose Diaries [52]
Category: British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Conversation, F/M, Flirting, Long Distance Relationship, Phone Call
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 05:44:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8274893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missdibley/pseuds/missdibley
Summary: Still talking. Still fighting. Still flirting. As much as these two walnuts can manage while they are apart (but not for much longer, hopefully).





	

**Author's Note:**

> There is an _Into The Woods_ Easter egg.

“You’re mean, you know.”

“Excuse me?”

“Meanest girl in the world.”

“Hardly.”

“It’s true.”

“You know what’s true? You, my dear Thomas, are spoiled.”

“Hardly.”

“You flew to Los Angeles for a long weekend. A weekend, I might add, where you were shooting pick-ups the entire time. And still you wanted me to fly out and… do what?”

“Put me to bed at night.”

“Tom…”

“Wake me in the morning.”

“Please.”

“I just love it when you’re my wakeup call.”

“Huh.”

“That last morning together in Australia, you roused me from sleep…”

“Don’t remind me!”

“Roused me from sleep by taking me in your sweet little mouth…”

“Tom, I’m at work…”

“So I guess asking you to touch yourself while you talk to me on the phone would be too much.”

“I thought we were taking this slow.”

“But you said you’d be my girlfriend!”

“Yes, I did.”

“And how is that taking it slow, precisely?”

“I’m your girlfriend, not your lap dog.”

“Wait a second…”

“So I’m not going to run to you whenever you ask. I have shit to do.”

“I know, Button.”

“Don’t patronize me, Tom.”

“Who’s patronizing? What’s going on?”

“I was talking to Annie…”

“You’re seeing her this weekend?”

“Yeah. I’m spending Friday with her and the kids, Saturday we’re all going to homecoming, and then I fly home on Sunday night.”

“Would it have been so difficult for you to come to Los Angeles for a few days, then go to Chicago a bit early?”

“You remember I have this career, right?”

“Work that you can do remotely, as you are able.”

“Tom…”

“There is wi-fi in Los Angeles. And in Chicago, as I recall.”

“Yes, I know that. But like I was saying, I talked to Annie and…”

“Does she still hate me?”

“Yes.”

“Does she still want to kill me?”

“Not anymore.”

“That’s a relief.”

“This is not to say if she ever sees you, she won’t take the opportunity to punch you in the dick.”

“Oh dear…”

“Repeatedly.”

“Noted.”

“She thinks I’m making it too easy for you.”

“Does she?”

“She thinks as soon as you took up with Pool Noodle, I should have hauled my ass back to Chicago.”

“Thank god you didn’t.”

“Yeah — if I hadn’t, I never would have met Richard Rankin!”

“Ow!”

“Ha!”

“I know I deserved that, but it still hurt.”

“Good.”

“You know Sarah adores him.”

“Does she?”

“Keeps going on about his thick head of luscious hair.”

“Aw, baby…”

“It’s not getting better, Button.”

“Tom, you know I don’t care about that, right?”

“I know. Thank you.”

“Anyway, Annie thinks I should have left England. Cut you out for good.”

“I don’t blame her.”

“Yeah.”

“I wouldn’t have blamed you if you did.”

“I know.”

“But know that I would have been devastated.”

“Not just guilty?”

“Beyond that. Devastated. Utterly desolate. Ruined.”

“Okay.”

“How are… I feel weird asking but, how are you?”

“Why do you feel weird asking me that?”

“It’s inadequate. It doesn’t speak to what happened…”

“Come on.”

“I always think in my head what I’m asking, what the underlying question will always be, is _How are you doing after the worst summer of our lives?_ ”

“Oh, Tom.”

“Or perhaps _How can you still love me after everything I did to hurt you? How are you capable of forgiving me, or finding your way to that?”_

“It’s a secret.”

“Are you going to tell me?”

“Not now.”

“You’re not being coy, are you?”

“No. And before you say it, I am not stalling so I can come up with one of my succinct, fully realized answers that somehow speak to my emotions without making me sound like a weepy jackass.”

“Yes, because if there is going to be one weepy jackass in this relationship, it’s going to be me.”

“Exactly, Cambridge.”

“Why don’t I come see you this weekend?”

“That’s a 24 hour flight.”

“That’s right.”

“For 48, maybe 72 hours in Chicago.”

“Exactly.”

“72 hours and the very real risk that my best friend from college will punch you repeatedly in the dick the entire time?”

“Sounds like a party.”

“Why?”

“Because I need to… fuck! What _you_ need... “

“What do I need?”

_“Use me but as your spaniel — spurn me, strike me, neglect me, lose me. Only give me leave, unworthy as I am, to follow you. What worser place can I beg in your love — and yet a place of high respect with me — than to be usèd as you use your dog?”_

“That was dirty, Hiddleston.”

“I meant it.”

“Wasn’t Helena under a spell when she said that to Demetrius?”

“She wasn't, but I’m not Helena. There is no spell here. It’s me. Tom. But not just any Tom — your Tom.”

“You said that before.”

“I know, Button. But I didn’t know what I was talking about then. I thought I could pull it off, make you understand.”

“So what’s different now?”

“I know things now. Many valuable things that I hadn’t known before.”

“Like what things?”

“That just because someone is nice doesn’t mean that they are good. Trust your instincts. And never turn your back on someone who loves you.”

“You didn’t know these things before?”

“I think I had forgotten.”

“So you’ve got your memory back, then?”

“Yes. My memory, and you.”

“And me.”

“So why shouldn’t I fly to Chicago?”

“Because you have mere weeks left on _Thor_ , dear.”

“But then the next Avengers…”

“We’ll figure it out.”

“We?”

“Yes. Me and you, with the permission of my very patient boss, the flexibility of the lovely people at Marvel, and the support of the airlines who have daily flights from London to the many places your work takes you.”

“I don’t deserve you.”

“You always say that.”

“It’s true.”

“You know what else is true?”

“Oh dear.”

“You fucked up, but I love you.”

“Thank goodness.”

“Well, that or I’m just too dumb to see if I can’t get Richard Rankin to go out with me again.”

“Brat!”

“Hahahahahahahah!”

**Author's Note:**

> A correction was made, indicating that Helena was not under a spell when she begged Demetrius to treat her like his dog. Many thanks to user misreall for pointing that out!


End file.
